A vehicle operator spends a lot of time facing the vehicle's dashboard. The dashboard houses the instrumentation, sometimes referred to as an instrument cluster, upon which the vehicle operator relies while operating the vehicle. Common instrument clusters contain a speedometer, an odometer, and a fuel gauge. A vehicle operator becomes very familiar with the instrument cluster.
Despite the high level of interaction that a vehicle operator has with the instrument cluster, the vehicle operator typically cannot easily customize the display of the instrument cluster. In normal circumstances, a vehicle operator must accept the design of and the information provided by the instrument cluster. Altering the instrument cluster that the vehicle manufacturer provides by replacing instruments and background paneling is an expensive and laboring task. For most vehicle operators, customization in this manner is not a viable option.